Holy Nach-cho Sweetness!

This post is about to get a whole lot sweeter!!! Of course I’ll be working/discussing/cooking and tasting sweet potatoes! You are pretty lucky this post will be a double whammy! Two recipes in one! First we are going to make Sweet Potato Chips! Then with those delicious homemade sweet potato chips we are going to make nachos!!! A delicious alternative to a very unhealthy fried (yes fried, tortilla chips are fried) treat!

Sweet Potato chips sound very intimidating and a bit time consuming but great news! You can prepare the sweet potato chips in advanced! I really recommend making the investment into a mandolin slicer. I bought mine at Wal-mart for about $20 and it has paid off! From thing sliced foods to julienne (or match stick) vegetables on salads or coleslaw, the mandolin like I said has paid for it’s self in the stress, strength, injuries and energy it would have taken to use a knife.

As always food safety is important so we wash our hands and then we wash those potatoes, because between the ground and our mouths we have no idea where these sweet potatoes have been before!

Back to the crispy sweetness: Depending on how thick you want your sweet potato chips, I recommend a little thickness (I did not get to choose because of my mandolin slicer only has one option at thickness) to keep color and from burning in the oven; Plus it will give you structure to hold your load (veggies/toppings) with those nachos later.

Now we have a wonderful variety of sweet potato slices! We need to soak them! But a little fun first!

Ok but seriously, it is time to soak these bad boys!

In a bowl of warm water and 1 TBSP of corn starch you will soak your sweet potato slices for about 15 minutes. This will help draw out some of the starches from the sweet potato and will increase the crispiness!

Next you will take a cookie sheet or two and line them with aluminum foil (helps with the clean up) and a cookie cooling rack. This allows air to flow around the sweet potato slice to help dehydrate the sweet potato turning them into delicious chips.  Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Next we will allow the sweet potatoes to cook in the oven for about 15 minutes. You will want to flip them over half way in between.

Now wait those agonizing 15 minutes (do not forget to flip them over in about 7 minutes) and take a few selfies while you wait!

Be sure to tag #DEWIESeatwell if you make this recipe or my future recipes or you want to just take a selfie in the kitchen or share your “food porn” with the community and me!

Now that we have waited those agonizing 15 minutes it is time to get those sweet babies out! Now you have two options here:

1. If you want them to be a bit crispier to eat by themselves let them back in the sauna but keep a really good close eye on them letting them get to your desired crispiness. Them let them out and cool off on those racks they are on. This will allow them to continue their crisping process.
2. OR You can let them be a bit soft and begin the Sweet Potato Nacho process from.

To continue on with the sweet potato process:

You will want to begin placing them in a cast iron skillet. Size determined by how many people you are serving with these delicious nachos. Heads up: I just made sweet potato chips from one wide sweet potato which gave me about 15-20 nacho approved chips. The potato made a whole bunch of thing CRISPY chips I decided not to use in my nachos. I used a 10″ skillet and only 1 layer of nachos because I was only making a size for myself.

Once you create a layer of sweet potato chips like above you can add that LOW FAT cheese. It is important we consume dairy to receive the calcium it provides us but use fat-free or low-fat milk due to the high saturated fat content in other varieties. You can also tryout vegan cheese (dairy-free) if you prefer to skip out on dairy in general. My favorite vegan cheese to use is Daiya Cheese.

Add your cheese and then it is time to add the toppings!!! I personally like to start with the cheese, onions and tomatoes on my nachos and toss them in the (still on) oven.

Time for those finishing toppings. Add colorful foods to your sweet potato nachos to add different vitamins, minerals, and well delicious and beneficial phytonutrients!

Now sit back and enjoy this delicious treat! The more we spend time enjoying our food the less we take it for granted!

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         Sweet Potato Nachos!

• 1 sweet potato
• 1 TBSP Corn Starch
• 1/4 cup Low-Fat Cheese
• 1/4 cup diced onion (I prefer purple to provide more color to my nachos)
• 1/2 cup diced cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 avocado diced
• 1 white onion bulb and stalk chopped
• 1/4 cup black beans, cooked & rinsed (if you use canned black beans be sure to rinse them from their brine to help reduce the sodium)

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degree Fahrenheit.
2. Slice uncooked, but thoroughly washed sweet potato with a mandolin slicer (mandolin is preferred to prevent injury) or you can carefully use a knife.
3. Soak sweet potato slices in warm water with 1 tbsp corn starch for 15 minutes.
4. Lay sweet potato slices on a cooling rack on a cookie sheet.
5. Bake in oven for 15 minutes, flipping the slices over about 7 minutes in.
6. Allow to cool on the cooling rack. Keep oven on.
7. Begin to Layer chips into a cast iron skillet.
8. Add half the cheese and sprinkle on top.
9. Add layers of colorful vegetables.
10. Sprinkle last half of cheese.
11. Place back in the oven for five minutes.
12. Remove. Let cool.
13. Enjoy a delicious healthy treat!

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When you are enjoying your sweet potato nachos make sure to share on instagram and twitter!

Well Eats!

Drea

See you all later this week for nutrition tips & facts!! Leave your comment below on this recipe, blog and any questions you may have!